


Distraction

by Flora (florahart)



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 20:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/141507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/florahart/pseuds/Flora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam is trying to be hurtful.  Will just wants to take her mind off it a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distraction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dizzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/gifts).



Helen turned back to look at Adam as he threw the words at her, then squared her shoulders and left the room, making sure to enable the security lock; breaches had been bad enough many times, but now, the stakes were higher, personally, than they had been many times before, and extra caution was in order so she didn't do something foolish.

She stood for half a second, collecting herself just beyond where Adam could see her, then took herself back to work.

"He did _not_ just say that, did he? Seriously?"

She hadn't asked for an escort, but it occurred to Helen that every time she'd been to see Adam over the last several days, one of them had been unobtrusively there--usually Will, but maybe Kate, maybe Henry. Perhaps they were baby-sitting her, but it was good to have friends.

She knew she was quite good at projecting an air of calm, but Adam knew her well enough it had been work. Will wasn't any easier, but at least he wasn't offering a guilt trip over her failures as a doctor and a mother. She glanced toward him, then moved past as she took a breath. "He's only lashing out, Will. It's meant to hurt me." She could feel him falling into step behind and beside her, despite that his boots were quiet on the floor. "He's bitter," she added. Saying it didn't really help, but it felt worthwhile to try to reassure him.

"Been there." Will pulled up even with her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Helen said. She offered a brief smile, but she could see he wasn't buying it. He knew her well--perhaps not as well as John, or even Nikola, although that was a matter of duration as much as anything else--and wasn't a fool. Most of the time. Her smile brightened just a little as she was momentarily diverted by times any of them had been foolish. Will smiled back, the patronizing little smile that said he was humoring her, but that was easy to forgive; he was being supportive, and that was more than most people did for her. "As I said," she added after a moment, "I understand Adam's motivations."

"Doesn't really de-fang the monster, does it?"

"I beg your pardon?" She stopped and turned to face him.

"Understanding why a creature--and I'm talking about all monsters, not just ones that also happen to be abnormals--behaves the way it does only _helps_ you avoid getting hurt. Doesn't prevent it hurting you if it wants to, and the smarter it is, the more skilled it will be at taking its shot." Will shrugged. "I'm just saying. Adam's pretty damn smart."

"We've a great deal to do before we go," she said. It was changing the subject, which might be cowardly of her, but admitting Adam's comment had hurt her was no way to feel better; it would only mean dwelling on the issue. "I should see how Henry's doing."

Will shook his head. "Nice try, Magnus."

"Nice try?"

"You feel like shit. Pardon my French."

"That's not French. Shit is derived from the Germanic roots of English."

"Pardon my Germanic. You still feel like shit, and while I certainly worked out how little you must usually sleep while you were away--"

"I sleep! Some!"

"Right. My point is, Henry can do Henry's work, and he can do it best without being the object of hovering. And you ought to rest. Save your energy. Recharge a little." He stepped closer. "Come on. _I_ need to sleep. Just a nap. Keep me company. We'll refrain from dwelling on ways in which Adam can be an ass together."

"Are you propositioning me, Doctor Zimmerman?"

Will cracked a grin. "Would it work?"

"Never has before, has it?"

"Then I guess we have our answer." He paused at the corner and jerked his head in the direction of his quarters. "Come on. You can tell me a bedtime story. Take your mind off Adam, at least."

She hesitated. "Will, I don't know if it's a good idea."

"What, you're afraid you'll be overcome and won't be able to stop yourself from ravishing me? Somehow I doubt it's that big a concern. Plus, otherwise I'll just have to stick around and keep _you_ company. I can be a total pain in the ass."

"Can you, now?"

"Why Magnus, have you never noticed? I'll have to try harder." Will ducked his head down a little, looking young and maybe shy, and Helen found herself following him down the hall.

"It must be the disease, distracting me from all my other concerns," she said. She regretted the words immediately and stopped walking; Will was already worried about her--all of them were--and was making a great effort not to smother. He didn't need the reminder. "Sorry."

He slowed and turned to face her again. "Magnus, if I apologized for weakness when it wasn't me being weak so much as external forces creating it, what would you tell me?"

"That we all--never mind. Point taken."

"You know how you said Adam was just lashing out? I think it's okay if you need to, too. Being angry isn't unreasonable, under the circumstances."

"Of course it isn't. It also isn't productive."

"But it might let you be productive." He tilted his head. "So you don't want to rest. Something else? Something silly? We could play Scrabble? Dye our hair blond... you'd probably look kinda--"

She shook her head. "No, I think... I really do have plenty to do."

He nodded this time and took a step back. "Find me if you need help?"

She hesitated again. "Thank you."

"Any time, boss."

He turned again and walked away, and she watched him go for several seconds before turning to go the other way. The shaking that had been mostly in her hands was traveling, and her thighs and back felt the tremors now; the sensation left her more fragile than she wanted to be. Than she ever wanted to be. She'd faced down plenty of worse things, and it was just silly to be rendered irrational or incapable--which she wasn't, no, but it _felt_ like it--by something they could solve.

When she reached her office, she stood at the desk, fingers just touching the cool smooth surface, and then turned and instead went to the couch. It was true, what Will had said; she needed to rest for a little while.


End file.
